2014 Columbus Survey Results: Sustained Growth in an Expanding Field

What growth trends did the community foundation field experience in FY 2014? Sustained Growth in an Expanding Field (PDF, 3.01 MB) is an analysis of 2014 data gathered through the Columbus Survey. The report is a resource to understand the performance of your individual organization in the context of the field. Trends in assets, gifts, and grants are the focal point of the analysis.

For a sixth straight year the community foundation field saw growth in assets, with participants experiencing an average 11% increase over 2013 asset levels. This growth was consistent for foundations of all sizes. Gifts and grants also saw significant increases across the field, at 16% and 20% respectively. Changes in these levels were more dependent on the size of the individual community foundation, with small community foundations seeing the most pronounced increases.

For this year’s survey, CF Insights has developed an interactive data dashboard to complement the Columbus Survey Trends Report. These visualizations allow for more in-depth analysis of the survey data and provide a different way to understand trends for the field. The dashboard examines data about four emerging issues for community foundations that are not directly addressed in the report: per capita assets, community leadership, operational efficiency, and the growing importance of donor advised funds.

For each data visualization, hovering over the data points will display additional information, and users can highlight particular data by clicking on a particular point or legend category. Stay tuned for additional dashboards and other interactive data tools from CF Insights in the future.